


can someone send a runner (for the feeling that I lost today)?

by nausicaa_of_phaeacia



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Character Turned Into a Ghost, F/M, Prompt Fic, cousyfixit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 09:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16238522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa_of_phaeacia/pseuds/nausicaa_of_phaeacia
Summary: Coulson is a ghost.(That's why the Major Character Death warning is there, I guess, but he isn't dying in this fic.)





	can someone send a runner (for the feeling that I lost today)?

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure this is what I was supposed to do with the prompt, but it happened. Sorry! :)
> 
> Written for **#cousyfixit** (prompt: GHOSTS/AFTERLIFE).

"You need to stop haunting me like this," she huffs.  
"I‘m sorry, I thought you said –"  
"What? No, I mean – you seriously need to stop haunting me when I‘m about to give press conferences. Think about the headlines: Inhuman Director talks to ‚ghosts‘. You know they can‘t see you."  
"Ghosts?"  
"Sorry, Coulson, I thought you were –"  
"Ghosts, _plural_?" The smirk. God, he‘s driving her crazy.  
"Of course not." She _is_ smiling, though.

*

"This sucks," he says, because she‘s making ravioli, the only thing she loves to cook.  
"Come on, Coulson, this is like the only recipe I‘ve been known to be able to make."  
"No, honestly. Do you remember the ravioli we had when Fury appointed me Director?"  
"Those were CANNED. Don‘t push your luck."  
"I can‘t taste them anyway."  
She mock-huffs at him, earning her a smile. It doesn‘t suck that much when he smiles.

*

"You really need to sleep more, Daisy."  
"You‘re not exactly _helping_."  
"Not my fault your eyes are open."  
"Oh yes it is."   
She hears him swallow.  
"I‘m so sorry."  
"Why are you – No, Coulson, I didn‘t mean – I was joking." She sits up. "I mean how can I sleep when you‘re sitting on my bed?"  
"I‘m not really sitting on your bed."  
"Okay, but it _feels_ like you really are."  
A beat.  
"That would be different." He sounds embarrassed.  
"Trust me, it would."  
Do ghosts blush?

*

"You‘ve seen _Ghost_ , right?," he asks her.  
"Don‘t be melodramatic."  
"No, I wasn‘t getting at – I just wanted to – It‘s the freaking hat," he says.  
"My hat? What‘s wrong with it? Maria said –"  
"It‘s very Oda Mae Brown."  
"Coulson!" She throws the hat at him, but it just flips right through his shoulder.  
"Ow," he mock-complains anyway.  
She smiles at him. "You‘re a good sport."

*

"You don‘t think there‘s anything that can be done, can there?," she whispers.  
"Sorry, what? I was asleep."  
"You weren‘t."  
"I am in bed, Daisy, lying down, eyes closed. Doesn‘t that count?"  
"Ghosts don‘t sleep."  
"Yeah, not when they are constantly being woken up by the young woman lying next to them."  
"They should be glad they even have a young woman lying next to them."  
"True," he admits. "They are."  
She shifts a little.  
"I can hear you smile," he says.  
"Same here."  
She turns around to look at him, smiles.  
"But – You don‘t think there‘s anything we can do?"  
"We could sleep."  
"Phil, _no_. I mean, about you. Human body and everything."  
"Come on, it‘s been years since I‘ve had two functioning hands. Let me have that."  
"You are such an idiot," she says, but it doesn‘t sound harsh.

*

"I wanna kiss you," she says. It‘s New Year‘s Eve and it‘s ridiculously late (it is actually early, to be honest, the sun is almost out and the hall is getting more and more empty).  
"Daisy, you‘re tipsy."  
"Yeah, so? You‘re the only person I‘d wanna kiss on New Year‘s."  
He doesn‘t really have to think about it. "Likewise."  
She smiles a little. "This sucks."  
"It does."  
"We could try anyways?," she adds.  
There it is again, a hint of a blush. But what‘s to lose? "Okay."  
They try, and it doesn‘t feel like anything, except like the knowledge that someone just imagined they were kissing you. Daisy had almost expected a fairy tale moment, but of course, this is real life.  
"Pity," she says, half-joking.  
"That bad?"  
Daisy smiles. "On the contrary."  
"I guess I‘m lucky you have to imagine what it feels like," he says, trying not to make it sound too self-deprecating.  
"Why, would you have turned into a frog?" She chuckles.  
"Hope not."

*

"You sure you wanna do this?," she asks him one last time.  
"Not much I can lose, is there?," he jokes, except there is, because if this goes wrong, he might never talk to Daisy again, _never see her again_.  
She extends her arm to touch where his fingers would be.  
"Don‘t worry," she says. "I won‘t let this go wrong."  
He nods, trying to be brave.  
She inserts the prism into the makeshift converter, pushes a few buttons. It feels very fictional and maybe a little steampunk, pushing levers and turning cogwheels. But then again, she‘d turn around three times and spit over her shoulder with her eyes closed if it means she can have Coulson come back.  
"Wait," he says, and it sounds like it‘s the last thing he‘s going to say before he dies. Except that he‘s already dead.  
She turns around in her chair, eyebrows raised. God, she hopes he doesn‘t make this any harder for her, because she sure as hell doesn‘t want her crying face to be the last thing Coulson sees if this goes wrong.  
But there he goes.  
"I love you."  
And she cries, because he loves her. It‘s less a surprise than a total relief, and she doesn‘t know what to do with this information, except nod and try to open her mouth.  
"Okay," he says, like he doesn‘t expect a single thing from her, like he just wanted her to know, like that‘s enough for him to hold on. It makes her cry more.   
He looks at her expectantly, but she just starts smiling while crying, doesn‘t move even an inch. Then she gets it, nods obediently, turns to the buttons.  
At the very last second, she turns back, smiling radiantly.  
"I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! ♥  
> I apologize for not elaborating. I felt like it needed to end there.
> 
> Oda Mae Brown is Whoopi Goldberg's character in _Ghost_.  
>  The fic title stems from The National's _England_.


End file.
